Spatial Orientation and Directional Judgments in Pilots vs. Nonpilots

Reading a map requires the ability to judge one's position in a large-scale space from information presented in a small-scale representation. Individuals are more accurate and faster in making judgments when the "up" direction on the map is the same as the "forward" direction of the environment, which is when a map is aligned with the perspective of the spatial layout they have learned (alignment effect). The aim of this study was to explore whether military pilots, who have high spatial abilities, would not show the alignment effect compared with nonpilots.

Recruited were 20 military pilots and 20 nonpilots. Mean flight hours were 418.75. Nonpilots without flight experience were matched for age and education with pilots. Subjects were asked to learn a map and to perform directional judgments to verify whether the alignment effect was present considering absolute angular errors.

An ANOVA for mixed designs on absolute angular errors revealed a main "group" effect: pilots performed better than nonpilots (pilots: M = 22.60 ± 5.57; nonpilots: M = 82.59 ± 5.56). A main "directional judgments" effect was also observed: aligned judgements were easier than contra-aligned judgements (aligned, M = 9.277 ± 0.938; contra-aligned, M = 11.004 ± 0.805). ANOVA showed a significant "group × directional judgments" interaction: post hoc comparison showed that contra-aligned were more difficult than aligned judgments for nonpilots.

High visuo-spatial abilities preserved pilots from having alignment effect bias. They performed directional judgments equally well, being less influenced by the increased cognitive effort requested by the changing perspective.Verde P, Angelino G, Piccolo F, Carrozzo P, Bottiglieri A, Lugli L, Piccardi L, Nori R. Spatial orientation and directional judgments in pilots vs. nonpilots. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2018; 89(10):857-862.